Chapter 55

Something muffled met Atlas’s ear and she looked up from her hands, watching as Minerva, Hagrid and Moody all spoke at once, beaming, grinning, seemingly congratulating her if the way they were moving was any evidence of such. However, Atlas still couldn’t hear them, not spectacularly, as if one of the Twins loud fireworks had gone off by her ear. The Agoniser’s roar had done some damage to her ears, it probably wouldn’t have if they weren’t so sensitive but while being an Animagus at a young age had some perks it also had disadvantages.

So, she just watched silently, eyes darting across lips to make out what they were saying. She’d been correct, they were congratulating her but Minerva was also scolding her, her hand out in front of her with a long stick in her grasp. Atlas went a little wide-eyed when she realised it was her wand and lurched forward, going to grab it, however, Minerva pulled away and Atlas looked up at her in confusion, reading her lips once more.

“I can’t hear you…” Atlas said, her own words foreign on her tongue, just as they had been when she’d said the same to Bella. The professors stopped talking at once, Minerva bending down to help the girl up as she tucked the wand in her waistband for her while Hagrid retrieved the Golden Egg. The three guided Atlas to the medical tent, the girl glancing around and nodding with a smile at the Dragon Keepers that walked by, not at all having a clue what they were saying but assuming it was something congratulatory.

They made it to the tent, Poppy greeting them in the opening and then further going on a long rant that Atlas did not have the pleasure of hearing. Minerva and the woman exchanged words, practically clutching each other as Minerva seemed to dab at her eye with a handkerchief and pull Poppy into a quick embrace. More words were muttered between them before Poppy nodded hurriedly and looked at Atlas, a worried look on her face.

She was ushered along and guided to a private cubicle, her ears still ringing and muffled as she stared at the floor. Poppy was doing something in her peripheral and urged Atlas to take her burnt shirt off, leaving the girl in her simple black undershirt beneath. The healer got to work in cleaning her arm while a potion brewed on the stand beside her, seemingly talking to herself – or Atlas, she couldn’t tell – as she did, shaking her head around gravely at how her burn reacted to the salve she was applying. It didn’t look to be working as well as it should be.

Poppy shuffled over to her potion and pulled out a pipet, sucking some up into the glass as she then moved over to Atlas and angled her head so it was on her side, her ear to the sky. She hovered the potion over the bleeding opening and let a few drops fall inside, the liquid sliding down her ear canal, her nose feeling as if it was suddenly blocked and after a moment of silence, her hearing was restored to what she imagined a regular humans hearing might be.

“Atlas? Atlas, can you hear me?”

“Yeah…yeah, I can hear you Pop…” Atlas murmured as Poppy sighed out in relief and sought the other ear, repeating the process and asking the same question. When she was done Atlas simply let out a breath, rolling her jaw around at the odd sensation she now had in her ear.

“I imagine your hearing isn’t as great as it was, right now?”

“Will — will it stay like this?”

“No, it’ll return to its full optimality soon enough, but you should avoid any loud noises if you can…but, of course, I see that will be a problem for you…” Poppy uttered, obviously referring to the wild applause and cheers sounding just beyond the tent. She sighed and pulled out a set of earmuffs, handing them to her. They were the ones Herbologists would wear when dealing with Mandrakes, Neville had a pair on his dresser. “Here, these should do.”

Just as she took them and put them on, three figures came running into the tent, all in varying degrees of distress and awe. Ron – whom she was surprised to see – was more amazed than worried, while Harry was equal parts awed and terrified, leaving Hermione the one to be completely and utterly hysterical. She was the first to run forward, practically tackling Atlas in a vice-like grip and sighing out a sob of relief into her shoulder. The earmuffs she’d just put on were immediately knocked off.

“Hermione?” Atlas muttered, hooking her good arm around the girl and rubbing her back awkwardly. The girl didn’t speak, she simply held tighter, crying quietly in both relief and fright, Ron and Harry exchanged that look they always did when the girls got particularly close and Atlas couldn’t even bring herself to be mad. The look on Harry’s face when he’d looked at Ron was enough to pay for the embarrassment she felt. She was glad they’d made up, so glad she didn’t even feel the need to make up with Ron herself.

“That was bloody brilliant,” Ron gushed, moving to sit on the chair by the bed while Harry took the spot next to her. Madam Pomfrey excused herself, probably going off to find Minerva. “I said the same to Harry but…I reckon whoever but your name in that goblet wants to do you in.”

“Almost did too,” Atlas grinned, reaching out to ruffle the boy’s hair. 

“So, are we ok?” He asked sheepishly. “I mean…I do want to talk to you, about…what you said, ’cause I know I’ve been a total prick to you…”

“We’re fine Ron, if Harry’s good then so am I, he was more broken up about you ignoring him than me, anyway. I had this one,” Atlas smiled, nestling her hand in Hermione’s hair. Hermione pulled away, however, sniffling and rubbing at the darkened circles beneath her eyes.

“But I didn’t have you!” She shouted, a look of rage so sharp across her face it stunned Atlas. “You left me alone!”

“Hermione I…” Atlas frowned, glancing to the boys as they took that as their cue to leave. Harry gave her a quick kiss on the temple and whispered a few words of congratulations, insisting they talked about her reckless tactics later while Ron muttered his prayers. Then when they were gone, Atlas looked back at Hermione, gaze immediately flitting to the floor when she saw the pure fire in the girl’s eye. “Sorry.”

“Sorry? Just…sorry?” Hermione shook, standing up and pacing in front of her, throwing her hands around and cursing angrily to the air. “I can’t believe you’d just…leave me! Without telling me! I get it, you run away when you’re provoked but–!”

“It wasn’t like that!” Atlas immediately refuted, feeling some sort of embarrassment at the accusation, knowing full well she did frequently run away from her problems. That aside, this was not one of those times, she may have run away but not because she felt provoked.

“Regardless! You got upset because I made you feel alone but went ahead and did the same to me!”

“I — I thought you had Harry–“

“It’s not the same!”

“I don’t understand…”

“Of course you don’t! God, I’m so stupid!” Hermione yelled as Atlas watched her, helplessly. “Why of all people!? Why did it have to be you!? Jesus Christ, why!? Why are you like this!?”

“Like — like what?”

“You’re an idiot! You’re such a hypocrite!”

“Hermione, you were working yourself to the bone for me and Harry! I thought–“

“No, Atlas…you didn’t think at all,” Hermione snapped and Atlas’s mouth clamped shut, her eyes turning downcast. “I searched for you — every moment I could —  to help you, I wanted to know and feel assured when you walked into that arena that you would come out of it alive. People die in this tournament Atlas. So I don’t care if I miss a few nights of sleep because I can always sleep tomorrow, what I do care about is you, because there wouldn’t be a tomorrow if you had made a fatal mistake today.”

“But I didn’t…”

“What?”

“I didn’t make a fatal mistake,” Atlas reasoned sluggishly, Madam Pomfrey’s potion was making her brain fuzzy, hindering her brains usual capabilities.

“You…you completely missed the point,” Hermione said softly, in a way that was sort of defeated and small. A whisper “You are so thick. God, you’re insufferable.”

“Yeah?” Atlas muttered, “Well…doesn’t matter, I won and I’m alive, isn’t that enough, Hermione? Look, please, can we just do this later?”

“No. No, we are not doing this later.”

“I’ve already said sorry, what more do you want?”

“I want you to actually seem like you mean it first! You gave me a sorry, not even an I’m sorry! You didn’t — you didn’t even look me in the eye…” Hermione whispered, “I just want you…” she sniffled, rubbing her eyes weakly, “I want you to understand how you made me feel.”

“I made you feel like shit, I get it.” Atlas bit harshly. “Merlin, now you’re just being annoying…”

Hermione stared at her silently a moment before shaking her head slowly, “you made me feel as if it would have been better if we’d never met.”

Atlas stopped then, froze if you will, muscles tensing, her jaw clenching as a shot of ice flooded through her veins. It woke her up, launched her brain out of its boggled state and slapped her across the face. That hurt. That hurt a lot. Atlas felt her heart crack just the slightest bit as she finally looked up, staring into cool, brown and watery eyes, seeing the fatigue and genuine sadness behind them. Merlin, what had she been thinking? 

“Hermione…”

But she was already gone, the flap of the medical tent billowing in her wake, leaving Atlas alone with her thoughts, her final words replaying over and over in her head, their conversation playing on repeat. Hermione’s words and what they meant, her absentminded and frankly dimwitted replies that were just so senseless and horrid it made her heart drop just thinking about them, thinking about Hermione’s face as she said them, her tone, a whisper, voice dull and whole demeanour just tired.

“Hermione…” Atlas stood up, stumbled forward as she panicked and quickly pulled back the tent flaps. “Hermione, wait! I’m–” The bustling crowds of passing workers and officials had long since swallowed the girl and she was nowhere in sight. “Sorry…” she went to continue her search, follow Hermione’s trail but three figures came ambling toward her from the larger medical tent, all hurrying and chatting idly.

“Atlas, get back inside, it’s much too noisy out here,” Poppy ordered, pushing her back into the sanitized sanctuary that was her designated cubicle. Atlas had to oblige, Fleur and Zasha following after her. They seemed to be bickering, which, actually, wasn’t incredibly uncommon. “Oh dear, you look quite pale. Are you in pain? Experiencing any dizziness? Nausea?”

“No…Poppy, just…I just…I’m an idiot.”

“Well, I could have told you that dear,” Poppy said, smiling sympathetically as Atlas just nodded dumbly, too befuddled to come up with a quick quip back. “Oh dear, you really are ill…not even a roll of your eyes. Dear oh dear, Minerva and I have agreed that you should be staying in Hogsmeade until your ears have recovered. And you are not to work on the clue until such a time your hearing is back to its full capabilities.”

“Wait, no,” Atlas rushed, “I — I need to see Hermione. I can’t go back to Hogsmeade, it’ll just make things worse.”

“Worse, my dear?”

“I…I was a bit…”

“Insensitive?” Fleur offered and when Atlas looked over at her quizzically, the Frenchwoman simply shrugged. “I ‘eard it all, you really were quite tactless, I must say.”

“And you didn’t stop me?”

“Zere was no way I could, Madam Pomfrey had me strapped to a chair!”

“That I did,” Poppy nodded. “And for good reason.”

“She kept wiggling away from her tools,” Zasha grinned.

“Right, ok, but that’s beside the point. I need to…apologies? No — er — understand!” Atlas said, “but I can’t do that if I’m in Hogsmeade.”

“So write her a letter,” Poppy sighed and then frowned in a way that was tired and spent. Merlin, why was everyone looking at her like that? Was she really such a tiring person? “I’m sorry Atlas but it has been decided, my orders and you know what happens when you disobey me…”

“I’ll be walking around with a tail and matching ears to boot…” Atlas grumbled, slouching in her seat and rubbing down her face. “Merlin, I messed up.”

“You did,” Zasha nodded, Fleur glared at her and Atlas would have laughed at the bluntness if she didn’t feel so emotionally destroyed. 

“‘Ave — ‘ave you had your scores?” Fleur then asked, seeking to shift the topic as Madam Pomfrey took up a bandage from the side table and got to carefully wrapping up Atlas’s burnt arm.

“No…” Atlas said, rubbing her eyes and waiting a moment for Poppy to finish before standing again. 

“She can go see them, can’t she Lady Healer?”

“Of course,” Poppy nodded at Zasha’s question and then turned to Atlas, “My dear, I’ll be over in the gazebo if you need me,” she smiled softly, exiting their small tent.

“Right, let’s go then…” Atlas sighed.

“Ah, but you are…” Fleur said, stopping to motion to Atlas’s topless torso. The Black glanced down at herself, slowly and then reached out to grab her shirt, carefully and painfully pulling it back on. The burnt fabric left her bandage on show but she didn’t care and walked outside, putting the earmuffs back on as Fleur and Zasha hurried after her.

They walked to the back to the edge of the enclosure, finding no dragon in sight and strolled inside, Atlas making one last effort to rub the wet from her eyes as she sniffled and looked up at the judges, all five of them halting their conversation at once and turning to look at her. Madame Maxime sent her student a curious glance before drawing her wand and shooting a long silvery number into the air. It twisted itself into the figure nine and Zasha clapped wildly, Fleur doing the same next to her with much more restraint.

“Ze marks are out of ten,” Fleur whispered as Atlas nodded slowly, dipping her head in thanks to the headmistress.

Mr Crouch came next and shot another nine into the air, Fleur and Zasha looking more excited than Atlas who simply nodded again. She just wanted to leave, now that the task was done she didn’t need to worry anymore, not until the next one came closer and in honesty, she wasn’t in the mood to care. Maybe Fobbo would be around to cheer her up, she could really use a friend like him at the moment. He could come to Hogsmeade and keep her company. Fleur and Zasha were amazing but Fobbo could always grasp her emotions better than anyone, well, Hermione would give him a run for his metaphorical money but she wasn’t exactly a choice at the moment.

Next, Dumbledore and he too put up a nine. While, as far as Atlas could tell through her earmuffs, the crowd cheered harder than ever. Ludo cast a ten to the air which earned another cheer from her childhood friends but another vague nod from Atlas herself. And finally, Karkaroff, he stared upon the haggard-looking girl before, after a moment of deliberation, casting a five to the sky. A few booed, even Zasha did, but Atlas couldn’t have cared any less, simply bowing and walking out of the enclosure, Fleur still waving and cheering to the adoring crowd.

“You did amazing!” Zasha boomed.

“Did I?” Atlas murmured.

“You are in ze lead! Two points ahead of ‘Arry and Viktor!” Fleur smiled, nudging Atlas’s good arm playfully despite the fact she was now in last place. She was trying to cheer her up but it seemed Atlas wasn’t really paying attention, simply replaying events in her head. “If it is bozering you so much, talk to ‘Ermione. It was your first fight, no? They are always tricky but she is a smart girl and so are you, it will work out beautifully!”

“I was such a prick to her…” Atlas whispered and Fleur frowned. Zasha clapped a hand around her moderately healthy shoulder.

“Friends fight, World Holder!”

“But she’s not just my friend to me, Zasha.”

“You were definitely tactless,” Fleur sighed as Zasha processed Atlas’s statement, scratching the top of her head in thought. “But you obviously feel terrible. So zere is an obvious solution to zis, is zere not?”

“What?”

“You talk.”

“Look how that turned out…” Atlas sighed.

“You talk when ze excitement ‘as settled! And you are not…drunk on medication!” Fleur insisted and Atlas glanced at her before nodding along. She knew the girl was right. It was all a lot to deal with, especially after risking her life for a dragons young, almost losing her hearing and earning another gnarly scar up her arm. She sighed, rubbing between her brows in thought. That’s when Zasha clapped her hands together in understanding, pointing a finger at Atlas while she grinned.

“You are liking her, yes?” She shouted and Fleur slapped her upside the head, “What? Ginny said so, I was just not believing her, now it makes sense!”

“You meat’ead,” Fleur huffed. 

They bickered back and forth as Atlas continued walking, eventually coming across the greater bulk of the crowd that was migrating from the stands and back to the school. Those who were simply there to watch leaving in the direction of Hogsmeade. Atlas stopped and went to go with them, taking Poppy’s warnings seriously, knowing she really would be walking around with a tail and matching ears if she went against her doctor’s orders.

Her movements were cut short, however, as a familiar face burst from the crowd with Ron Weasley in tow. Harry ran over to her with a bright smile that quickly dampened once he saw the girl face. Ron caught up just behind him as they stopped in front of Atlas, Fleur and Zasha still arguing behind her, completely enraptured in whatever debate they had come up with this time.

“Atlas? What’s up?” Harry asked.

“I…I’ll tell you later,” Atlas muttered and the boys exchanged a look before Ron shrugged slightly and Harry turned back to say what he had wanted to.

“Well, the champions are needed in the tent, you coming?” He said, motioning to Fleur as well. Finally, the two childhood friends stopped fighting and Zasha, seemingly grinning, slapped Fleur’s back and pushed her forward, the Veela glared at her, grumbling under her breath as Harry led the way back to their designated tent.

It looked like Zasha had won their argument for once.

They pushed inside the tent, leaving Zasha and Ron outside and found Krum already within, looking grumpier than ever as Ludo seemed to gush over something. Bagman’s words were obviously going unheard and he might as well have been talking to a brick wall, well, Krum might as well have been a brick wall, nothing seemed to break through that defence of his. Whether it was information or simply conversation, he just looked bothered all of the time. Atlas knew how that felt, the downsides of being famous.

“Ah, all of you are here! Lovely, lovely!” Bagman shouted as all four champions came to the middle. He first handed them their replica dragons back, each one apparently excited to get back to its owner. “Souveniers of the trial, how about it? Great ain’t they!” He beamed and Atlas knew Hagrid would agree. “Now! Well done, all of you! Just a quick few words. You’ve got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half-past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth–“

“I’ll clear my calendar…” Atlas grumbled and Harry laughed heartily, Fleur doing the same into her knuckle.

“Good one!” Bagman beamed and Atlas rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we’re giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those Golden Eggs you’re all holding, you will see that they open…see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg – because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!”

“I don’t have my egg,” Atlas said, raising her hand as if in class. Bagman looked at her a moment, watching as the girl just let her little Agoniser crawl all over her head before beaming and hurrying off somewhere. Atlas just stared after him, blinking slowly as Fleur and Harry waited behind, exchanging curious looks as they then heard, at rapid speed, footsteps approaching. The man who’d run had just come back, bursting into the tent with a Golden Egg in his hand. “Thanks…”

“No problem! Ask me if you need anything else! Anytime!” He boomed and Atlas nodded gradually, turning around and leaving the tent with Fleur and Harry following soon after. They got outside to see Zasha and Ron in the middle of a discussion, about Quidditch, it seemed.

“So, you are going to ‘Ogsmeade then?” Fleur decided to ask and Harry scoffed beside her.

“Of course not, there’s no reason to…” He had caught the faraway look in Atlas’s eye, halting the sure words, spewing from his mouth. “You’re going back?” Atlas simply nodded. “But…you don’t need to stay away anymore, not like you needed to before just…well, we all miss you in the mornings, Hermione–“

“Zey ‘ad a…disagreement,” Fleur interrupted and Harry’s eyes almost fell from their sockets.

“You what?”

“I was a dick…” Atlas muttered, “Poppy just wants me to have some recovery time so she’s sending me back to Hogsmeade,” she motioned to her earmuffs and Harry nodded.

“I think that’d do you good,” Harry nodded. “Just…if you start feeling alone again you should come back. Ron and I will — we’ll stick with Hermione. I’ll even convince Ron to indulge her S.P.E.W. rants. I’ll be sending…Sirius a letter too.”

“Thanks, Potter and yeah…I’ll try and recover as quick as I can. Tell dad, I miss him.”

“Will do.”